HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Karl Towns had been on the floor about two minutes when Dominican Republic coach John Calipari — indeed, that phrase still sounds a little curious — took the occasion of an opponent’s free-throw attempt to call his youngest player toward the bench.

Calipari wrapped his arm around Towns’ waist and said, almost bemused, “You’ve got six points. You’ve given up nine. You’ve got to rebound now.” Calipari was not exaggerating. He had the accounting exactly right.

Towns, a 6-11 power forward, could have responded by pointing out he is only 16 years old, still three months from beginning his sophomore year in high school, and everybody else on the court in Wednesday night's exhibition between the Dominican national team and a squad of D-League players was nearly 10 years older with college and professional basketball experience. But that’s not the point. Nor is it his style.

Towns is a 16-year-old with a 24-year-old’s disposition and a 33-year-old’s game. The specific 33-year-old in question: Dirk Nowitzki. That’s the direction Towns’ development is headed, and his experience as a deep reserve with the Dominican national team only can accelerate his progress toward stardom.

“Ever since I was young, I wanted to make this my job, playing basketball,” Towns told Sporting News on Wednesday night. “I’m not really getting paid to do anything, but playing at a professional level shows that if I’m able to do it now, at 16 ... give me three years of high school and one year of college — maybe one to four years of college — I’ll be 400 times better.”

The presence of Towns on the Dominican team is viewed by many as some sort of gambit by Calipari to gain an advantage in the recruitment of a player who likely will be the most prized prospect in the Class of 2015. Why else would someone so young be included on a team designed to gain the first Olympic Games basketball berth for the Dominican Republic?

Although it’s certainly true that Calipari never would retreat from an angle that provides him a legitimate head start in pursuit of an extraordinary prospect, this is more about the Dominican building a future for its national team. The federation wants Towns to be kept on the 12-man squad for FIBA’s Olympic qualifying tournament July 2-8 in Venezuela because even if he’s not ready to help the team win now, he very well might be by 2016.

Beyond the seven or eight players in Calipari’s primary playing rotation this summer — led by Atlanta Hawks star Al Horford and Sacramento Kings guard Francisco Garcia — it’s unlikely that anyone else will make a difference in a qualifying game against Russia or South Korea.

“It’s just making me a lot better player,” Towns said. “And, at the same time, I’m getting a better IQ. I always want to learn about the game. If I can learn from people a lot better than me, that just makes my job a lot easier when I go down to my high school level.

“Having Coach Cal is a big difference. Coach Cal is a national championship-winning coach. I’m learning a lot about pick-and-rolls, NBA offenses instead of just high school in New Jersey with no shot-clock. We’re running plays with shot-clock, and you’ve got pressure down your throat.”

Towns has size 20 shoes, suggesting he still might have room to grow. As he gains strength with age and training, he’ll be more effective against larger opponents in the post than he can be now with the Dominican team.

In the exhibition Wednesday night against Team Ignition, Towns was matched against such players as Will Coleman (who played at Memphis) and John Flowers (a former West Virginia regular). Towns’ only avenue to success against them was to employ his extraordinary skill, which includes 3-point range — even with the international line set at 22 feet — and astounding ballhandling and passing ability.

Near the start of the fourth quarter, Towns executed a beautiful shot-fake along the left baseline that opened former Michigan big man Josh Asselin for a layup; that it was negated by a shot-clock violation mattered in the game but did not erase the magic of its creation. Towns pulled down an impressive offensive rebound moments later. That it was slapped out of his hands did make it seem less impressive.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL'S BEST:

Towns stayed on the court for seven consecutive minutes. When it was over, it appeared he had run the Boston Marathon.

“As a bench, we haven’t played in a while. I went out strong and came out really hard,” Towns said. “That’s our job as a bench. We go out there as hard as we can for every minute, and then we come out and we let the starters finish the job.”

Although Towns’ game resembles Nowitzki’s more than any other great player, some have compared him to Oklahoma Thunder star Kevin Durant. The difference is that Durant has a guard’s athleticism; like Nowitzki, Towns has a big man’s body and does not fly above the rim.

“I know I’m not going to overpower people like Al Horford while I’m here,” Towns said. “I have to have a Kevin Durant mindset and be smarter. My job right now is to be smarter than every player and work harder.”

Towns said the players he holds as models for his game are “Magic, Kevin and a lot of Len Bias. He’s my favorite player, Len Bias. You go to my locker now, I carry his jersey around everywhere with me. When I was younger, he just was big for me.”

Towns learned of Bias, the Maryland star who died of a heart attack after taking cocaine, when he attended an adidas Phenom camp as a fifth grader. He has been affected by Bias’ greatness as a player and also the tragedy of his death.

“Where I live, near Rutgers, that’s known as a party state; I’m just not a party guy,” Towns said. “I’m mostly a guy who stays in my house, is with friends at my house playing video games. I don’t like parties or anything.”

His current teammates are all well past the legal drinking age. If the Dominican Republic gains one of the three Olympic berths available in the 12-team qualifying field, they’ll be able to celebrate with a drink. Towns wouldn’t be old enough to join them, but he’s wise enough to understand.